i believe that people, voters, believe they know what they need to know about president obama. they may think he's done a great job of handling the economy, getting us out of the ditch. they may think that he's done a terrible job, in which case they will vote against him. but i think what a tape like this does is just sends people back into their corners and kind of avoids the discussion that we really need to be having, which is who's a candidate who can move the economy forward. so it's kind of a diversion and these are the kinds of things you get at this point in a campaign when people are looking to sort of motivate the base, to get out and vote. >> eric, i want you to be able to respond to that. i want to play what then senator obama said in 2008 about jeremiah wright in the wake of the controversy and the attention. >> as imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. he strengthens my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. not once in my conversations with him have i heard him talk about any ethic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with